Wellness Wednesday with Sheri: How To Get Younger This Year

Last month, Best Self Atlanta’s Jeyme Colodne had the opportunity to interview one of America’s favorite doctors, Dr. Mehmet Oz. In this month’s article, Dr. Oz’s Top Tips to Stay Healthy, Jeyme highlights some of his best tips regarding how to live your best life.

Among them: Learn about your family’s health history, stay accountable by telling a friend about your goals and get more sleep – All great advice.

In addition to these tips, experts are learning what factors are contributing to the vitality of people in the world who are living the longest. These areas of the world, known as “blue zones,” can tell us a lot about how we can live longer and happier lives.

The world’s “blue zones” include Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica and Ikaria, Greece. So what are their top tips to stay healthy?

Eat with your family. Putting family ahead of work and other activities can help us live long, happy and healthy lives.

Participate in social engagement. Having a loving community and spending time with likeminded people has a powerful impact on our longevity.

Practice the 80/20 rule: Stop eating when you are 80 percent full. This ensures your body doesn’t have to work overtime to digest food.

Get regular, moderate exercise. Making physical activity a constant in your life can add on extra years.

Eat a plant-based diet. With the exception of Sardinians, most of the people in these regions consume a diet primarily derived from plants, especially legumes.

Click here to read an article by Dr. Mehmet Oz on the secrets of people living in the Blue Zones and try to incorporate some of these lifestyle characteristics into your daily life in 2012. Need help? Consult Best Self Atlanta’s handbook for resources, tips and exercises to make this coming year your best one yet.

Need help getting back on track? Sheri Oppenheimer is a health coach at Sweetgrass Spa and the Founder of The 100 Women Project, a healthy social network created by women, for women. To schedule a FREE holiday health makeover session with her ($125 value), call (404) 939-2299 or email Sheri at sheri@100womenproject.com.